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Half of pensioners said car repairs were the reason for having to rely on plastic, while two-fifths used credit cards to pay for repairs to their home and a fifth got into debt to help their children out with financial emergencies.

Dean Mirfin, chief product officer at Key Retirement, said: “It is astonishingly easy to sleepwalk into debt and it should be a case of expecting the unexpected as clearly many are facing shock bills.

“It is not possible to plan for everything and sometimes an unexpected bill will mean having to rely on credit cards to fund it.

"The problem then compounds itself if people cannot clear the balance and get caught by another surprise bill. Unfortunately, it all adds up which means a serious financial burden in retirement.”